Link to USGBC LEED Platinum Buildings

I was looking for a way to see all of the current LEED platinum rated buildings in all in once place.  I found a blog from a progressive green oriented residential community in Portland, Oregon called Cyan PDX which has a great list with images, project links and a brief project overview with highlights.  


Please check it out and use it as a resource.  It's really helpful for those in the design community to see these buildings all in one place.

Barre Granite Inspiration

I visited a local granite quarry in the Graniteville area outside of Barre several weeks ago right when the snow was finally melting.

I really appreciated the dark and light striations along with the ice sheets in the quarry image.  Fantastic patterning. The force it must have taken to separate the stone block from the mountain!

The closeup of a recently quarried large stone block received grazing sunlight to expose all of the rough edge variations.  It's a visual feast of texture. Both images inspire on many dimensions. 

Interested in learning more? 

You can find us at www.arocordisdesign.com, the website of our Montpelier, Vermont-based residential architecture firm practice Arocordis Design. If you want to contact us there, click on this link. 

#netzero #homedesign #arocordisdesign #vermont #vermontarchitect #architecture #climateaction

Cape Wind Gets Approval from the Federal Government

I read today in my local paper the Cape Wind Project gained approval from the Feds to proceed off Cape Cod. I understand there was immediate threats of lawsuits and further action. I hope this gets sorted out and this project can proceed. My guess, if this can happen, it will be helpful for other projects where clean energy, aesthetics, passion and a myriad of other issues come together. Of course, as they say in tight competitons, it's not over until it's over. Read more about it at CNET. Let me know what you think about this decision. See also the newscast found on YouTube.

It resonates close to home for me as I live in Vermont amidst a beautiful, scenic landscape with many oppourtunities for wind and solar energy and lots of challenges as well. All I want is to retain the historic, quirky character of this wonderful state while keeping our eyes and minds open to the realities of needing to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels and see alternatives in the clean energy economy. I'm not sure how to get it done but examples like Cape Wind at least offers hope the conversation is continuing to the next step. This I believe benefits us all.

Downsizing Options_The Real Goods Solar Home

What kind of house can you afford when you retire and want to have more predictability in your monthly expenses when living on a fixed income? Do you remain in your rambling family home with its many bedrooms to be used by your now adult children and their family only occasionally? Do you really need that 3,000 or 4,000 square foot home any more? Can you afford to heat it when you can't predict what fuel oil, natural gas or propane will cost next year or five years from now?

A strategy many empty-nesters often consider is downsizing perhaps to an efficiently laid out 1 to 2 bedroom cottage like home. One way to make your monthly expenses more predictable is to yes move to a smaller home but on top of that consider a small highly energy efficient green home, whether built new or gently used and renovated to green standards helping to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions. By moving up to small you will help your bottom line over the long term. Another aspect of this is moving from car dominated suburbs to the more pedestrian oriented communities. Having access to downtowns with their mix of services, people and resources is kinder to environment as well and often goes hand in hand with other strong communities.

One company filling this need for a small, affordable built new modular or plan home is Real Goods Solar Living from Boulder Colorado. As well as offering renewable energy systems for homeowners to add to their homes it now offers a solar kit home which comes in 1 and 2 bedroom sizes with various Solar electric system options, whether on the grid or off the grid. It also offer energy star appliances and an option for a composting toilet along with low-water use fixtures. The homes offer single level living within an extremely compact floor plan, essentially a 27' x 40' box. You can view more about their offerings at the product ordering part of the site. You can order it systems built which I understand as being modularized into distinct field assembled components or you can order architectural plans to modify with your own architect and builder.

From my perspective, The Real Goods Solar Home solution offers a great choice for homeowners looking to downsize, or build a first home with plans for future additions etc. Many companies offer this kind of solution like this though and I'll mention them in future posts. However, when considering buying a home like this it is important to examine the details. One area which concerns me is making sure to optimize or right size the level of building insulation, heating system and specifying the right amount of PV's to fill your solar electric and solar hot water needs.

I feel the level of insulation in the Real Goods home doesn't go far enough. The R-21 walls, R-49 ceiling and code compliant flooring insulation might be great for Colorado but they don't really help homeowners in colder climates like ours in the Northeast. In comparison other's such as Building Science Corporation recommend higher levels of insulation to further lower energy loads. See the Building Science Corporation's website for their recommendations and a little more about the European Passiv Haus an even more super insulated home concept.

"The Typical BSC low-energy home uses a minimum of r-5 (U=0.2) windows (triple glazed, low-e, warm edge spacers), R-10 sub slab insulation, and R-20 wall insulation in a conditioned basement, R-40 above-grade walls and R-60 ceilings (The "5/10/20/40/60" approach)." Both the BSC Low-Energy House and the Passiv Haus have higher insulation standards the Real Goods Solar Home, especially relevant in the cold climate region of the northeastern US. Perhaps the Real Goods folks could offer a Version 2.0 for our climate up here in Vermont.

From a practical viewpoint, installing more insulation further reduces the size of the heating system needed and the amount of PV's to provide solar electricity and hot water. PV's are expensive equipment to buy whether building new or renovating. Adding insulation isn't terribly glamorous and while largely invisible it is a more affordable choice helping to lower overall energy costs to the homeowner and optimize building systems and hopefully reduce first costs of construction and equipment. This process is called integrated building design. It takes collaboration and a willingness to work together to achieve homeowner's goals.

Please be aware buying a set of plans to build your own or a systems built home to assemble on site is only part of the story. Real Goods provides a online brochure which points out the home will generally cost up to $200,000 before purchasing land. But be wary of focusing too closely on this amount as every homeowner's situation is highly variable.

See http://www.realgoods.com/text/RG_Solarhouse_Info.pdf. The brochure identifies all of the other variables which go into building a new home, especially this kind of home. No kidding, there is a ton of complexity in building a low-energy renewably powered home. This complexity is the reason why it's important to work with an architect and a builder and their team of sub-contractors and consultants. It will pay off to you in many tangible and intangible ways.

Regardless, it is important to note how important it is for the building industry and the mainstreaming of the Green Movement to have companies like Real Goods offer the saavy green focused homeowner a turnkey concept like this with an eye to more predictable long term energy costs and reducing ecological impacts. Thanks Real Goods for offering consumers your Solar Home! And if you ask them about wanting additional insulation, I'm sure they'll at least talk with you about it.

(images are courtesy from the Real Goods Website to provide visual support to this post)

Water and renewal_On memories, architecture and biophilia

One of my favorite memories as a young man was the day I went fishing with friends in Walden, VT. We found a small trout stream and went to various places on it looking for the perfect fishing hole. It was a warm sunny summer day. The place I found vividly remains in my memory. The stream was about 10' wide and was covered in a shadowy canopy of trees offering comfort from the hot sun. You could feel the coolness of the running water and hear it burbling over rocks, fallen trees and the like. You could see trout rising to the surface nibbling on flies, rippling the water with concentric waves. After a while I lay down on my belly, setting my rod to the side and just watched and listened in a reverie of sorts. This randomly found place fully engaged my senses and feelings of wonder where at one point the hair on the back of my neck raised up in response.

Years later I have come to understand this experience as a turning point of my life and an awakening of a deep set recognition of the importance of nature and her living systems. There is even a term for it, Biophilia. EO Wilson developed a theory called the Biophilia Hypothesis, which suggests there is strong link between human beings and living systems. That there is an innate preference for things in and of nature by humans. I have come to believe there is a strong connection between harnessing natural forces and creating memorable, lasting architectural experiences. They work hand in hand to strengthen and enhance a sense of place and a lasting connection to those whom experience it. And often, quite sadly, this sense of connection is missing in our daily lives.

In the buildings and places I have been part of designing with our team and our clients we have sought to bring the out of doors indoors, bringing the kinesthetic, sensual experiences of living systems into the everyday shelter of our homes, our worklives, our places of play and community.

This stream side moment long ago was just such an experience of Biophilia. This moment of immersion speaks to the trans formative power of water and the place it has in our lives. We come from water at birth and water is fully part of our lives thereafter. This stream formed an outdoor room providing a deep sense of shelter, it activated my senses of sight, sound and touch and smell. The earthy loam of the soil, moist to the touch combined with the rough hardness of stream side stones and smell of the moss and fragrances of plants created a total kinesthetic experience. Bringing people in touch with their senses as I experienced along the stream offers a a path to follow or a potent example of biophilia to foster memorable and long-lasting experiences of place and space.

EO Wilson's Biophilia Center at Nokuse Plantation offers a nature center experience attempting to harness the theories he's developed over his career creating a physical, transcendent multi-faceted example for generations to come. Here's fourth grader's teacher's testimonial after visiting.

""Without this Center our students would not have had these chances to open their minds and spirits to nature in the most up close and spectacular ways. Just listening to their conversations sparked by these opportunities I can tell you that lives are changed. Our students are passionate about the world in which they live and for which they will, one day, be responsible. It has been a priceless time for them and one that will have far-reaching benefits for many.”

- Anna Hull, Patronis Elementary Fourth Grade Teacher

Need I say more.

Green Building Advocates in Philly_Expanding Green

I read this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about green building advocates in Philly and the continuing buzz about efforts there to bring sustainability more in the forefront of doing business rather than the background. As we head further into spring and the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth day it's good news to read about the continued growth in the green movement in nearby cities and communities.

Given our Vermont perspective of small is beautiful and unique, it's important to be reminded there's a much larger world out there than what we see here in our verdant green mountains. It's large, messy and in trouble. It's easy to fall into a myopic mindset thinking and conceiving of only the scale we know here in Northern New England. It's important to expand our thinking to scales beyond our own frame of day to day understanding.

It's great to read about the large commercial real estate properties being affected for the positive by going "green" and how its starting to figure into corporate bottom lines, PR and Marketing. Maybe there is something we can learn from each other, small cities to large and vice versa? I know Vermont has been an early adopter of many aspects of the green movement but we can't rest on our laurels and extend our impact without expanding the conversation and learning from other efforts elsewhere.

Please check this article out and let me know if this has any impact on you?

Exploring tonality_Ink washes and natural subjects

Here's some recent ink wash drawings I made over the last week or so. I recently picked up a Sumie Ink Wash brush and was enjoying trying it out on some subjects close at hand. I often am painting in full color with watercolor so working only in tones was a treat and very informative to me. With the Stones image, I found the ink wash behaved very differently on the 140 lb cold press watercolor paper than on the 90 lb drawing paper. On the heavier paper it blended so nicely and moved through the sizing in very interesting and somewhat unexpected ways.

On the lighter paper, with the Flowers,the ink wash laid more on the paper surface with a more spotty, dappled light effect. I had to layer successive wash tones atop one another to achieve a greater tonal range. But very interesting still the same. What do you think? Any suggestions?

I often believe all I need are stones, trees and water as my subject matter. The compositional and conceptual opportunities with just these three are endless and continually inspiring. I find relief not to be thinking about buildings but rather get lost in elements of the landscape such as these. I spend a lot of time designing buildings and spaces. I look to natural influences like these stones and flowers to provide respite and renewal emotionally, creatively and professionally.

"Drive - The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us", a review

I want to share a little book which might positively impact your business and creative life. I just finished Dan Pink's new book "Drive - The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us". It wraps together some new and older research on cognitive science, psychology and business process thinking. You can also hear Dan speak about his new book and his ideas at his recent Ted Talk. It's captivating and illuminating.

The main premise of the book is that what used to motivate us, the extrinsic carrot and the stick incentives of if you do this...then you can get that etc., or if you don't, "this" will happen to you. He says this is much less useful in today's world where people are looking for more intrinsic motivators. In fact Pink proposes Motivation 2.o based on this older view of motivation needs to be replaced by Motivation 3.0, one which recognizes the rising importance of finding a sense of personal autonomy, mastery and purpose helping to fuel our motivations and personal drive.

As Dan says, "We need an upgrade. And Science shows the way. This new approach has three essential elements: (1) Autonomy - the desire to direct our own lives; (2) Mastery - the urge to get better and better at something that matters; and (3) Purpose - the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves."

The book sets up this idea of Motivation 3.o by first examining Motivation 2.0 and making the case of how the carrot and sticks approach while very appropriate during the 20th century and still useful as a base today isn't enough. He talks about Type "X" people, those motivated by extrinsic rewards or motivators like financial incentives, increased prestige, role power, getting your name in print. He then shares how as we have moved into the 21st century there has been a transition from extrinsic to the intrinsic or Type "I" with the rise in volunteer ism, the phenomena of open source fed group fed media like Wikipedia, success of viral mass participation enabled by the internet through texting aid to Haiti as another recent example. People are plainly responding to more intrinsic motivations. They want more than just carrots or sticks. Dan illustrates how this "leads to stronger performance, greater health, and higher overall well-being".

During the section on Mastery, Pink speaks about the impact of "Flow" a concept championed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. We all know about Flow as it's the feeling we experience when we're in the groove on the court, painting pictures, playing music or working together where individual personalities disappear and the work magically gets done and done well. He theorized people " are most happy when they are in state of flow - state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situationl. "The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfillment and skill - and during which temporal concerns (time, ego-self, food, etc) are ignored. " (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihály_Csíkszentmihályi)

As a creative business person and someone who engages in high levels of collaborative design and interaction, whether in design charettes, business meetings or interactions with colleagues, this concept of flow is something I experience often. It's a magical place to get to where personalities disappear replaced by a focus on the design challenge at hand and finding purposeful and appropriate solutions.

That's one of the reasons why I want to share Dan Pink's book with you and its ideas. Our work lives can be filled with a sense of fulfillment, excitement and yes, at times, rapture! Please let me know what you think, if you've experienced this shift from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation in your work, creative and personal life. Does Dan Pink's Motivation 3.o resonate with what you're observing in you work and life? Tell me how. I'd be psyched to get your perspective and share it with others.